Program Staff – Page 8

Pull Up a Hashtag and Chat Awhile!

November 16, 2011 by

#jedchat is coming – and you are it! The first #jedchat synchronous twitter chat for Jewish educators will be held Wednesday, October 26 at 9pmET. What is #jedchat? In short, it’s professional learning and networking at your fingertips, brought to you by the collaborative team of Akevy Greenblatt (@Akevy613), Dov Emerson (@dovemerson), and Rabbi Meir Wexler (@RabbiWex) via Twitter. #jedchat is modeled after the successful #edchat collaborative discussions that have taken place on Twitter since 2009. Edchat brings together educators and those interested in education from around the world every Tuesday at 12pmET and 7pmET. Many Jewish educators are active participants in Edchat and the network that has developed around the synchronous conversations. Inspired by Edchat, #jedchat was created to foster connections and support professional learning for Jewish educators by Jewish educators. Akevy Greenblatt explains:

"We wanted to give Judaic teachers from all backgrounds an open and safe forum to share ideas and learn from each other."

So put on your thinking kippot and join the inaugural conversation which will center on: What do you want to gain from jedchat? How can we develop a Judaic pln (professional learning network). Join in the Learning :

Get ready to participate – got a twitter account? Follow the conversation here. Better yet, add your voice to the conversation by tweeting your ideas. Remember to include #jedchat in your tweet. And don’t forget to save #jedchat under your "Searches" for easy reference. You can also use a filtering tool to better follow the stream of tweets like Tweetdeck (see the #Edchat tutorial here).
Don’t have a twitter account yet? Set one up – it’ll only take a few minutes. The hardest part will probably be figuring out your Twitter name! Here’s a how-to from Twitter.
Set your clock for the real time #jedchat on Wednesdays at 9pm ET (you can figure out your local time for the first chat by clicking on the link).
No need to set your clock. Participants are using the #jedchat tag to extend the conversation and share resources and ideas at any time, as applicable. Think of it as a perpetual global cocktail party.
Join the jedchat wiki and connect – add your name and twitter name to the participants section, share your ideas for upcoming topics!
Take a gander at PEJE’s tutorial for tips and techniques for becoming a Twitter power user: You Can Speak the Language of Twitter
Check out Shelly Terrell’s (@ShellTerrell) tips for participating in a twitter chat based on her experiences with #edchat
Want more Jewish education goodness? Follow#jed21 and join the conversations!

Most importantly, have fun learning and connecting! #jedchat is all about the people who make the conversation! Will we see you there? What topics would you like to engage with on #jedchat? Take the #jedchat hashtag out for a spin and tweet out your ideas! Special thanks to Akevy Greenblatt (@Akevy613), Dov Emerson (@dovemerson), and Rabbi Meir Wexler (@RabbiWex)! photo credit: misspixels on flickr [cross-posted from jlearn2.0]

QR Codes: What’s It All About?

October 23, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

A QR code, or Quick Response code, is a black and white code that smart phone devices can read through a free app. Shipping companies first used QR codes as a tracking device. Consumers and smart phone users have used QR codes increasingly in the past years to compare retail prices, share information, and connect users to Facebook pages to name a few.

To use a QR code, download an app on your phone. The camera of your phone sees it and links you to the destination of the code. As a Blackberry user, I use the QR Code Scanner Pro by The Jared Company or Code Muncher by Motek Americas Inc. downloaded from the Blackberry App World. Iphone users can search the app store for QR Reader for iPhone by TapMedia Ltd. or RedLaser – Barcode Scanner and QR Code Reader by Occipital. Droid users search the Android market for apps such as QR Droid by Droidla or RedLaser Barcode & QR Scanner by eBaymobile.

QR codes are created easily online on any QR generator site by providing the link, text, or other data that you want the code to contain. I suggest using The QR Project or QR Stuff.com. Basic QR codes are free from these sites, however customizable QR codes with a company logo or other graphics are available for a fee. As a student at the University of Virginia, I have seen increased use of QR codes on flyers around grounds. I can scan a QR code to sign up for the Fight Cancer 5K, 'like' Challah for Hunger’s page on Facebook, or find out more information about an organization. I have walked around grounds and seen students seizing this opportunity, and have also started to use QR codes in my own organization’s marketing approaches. QR codes are becoming more prevalent by users of smart phones, especially by people in my 'millenial' cohort. I believe that the Jewish community can use QR codes effectively to aid in marketing and communication strategies. The key to QR codes is they link printed physical material to online material. So next time you're printing up a flyer or newsletter, think about where you can include a QR code. With QR codes, you can:

–Promote your organization creatively: The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) in Canada launched an iWalk mobile challenge where they asked participants to scan a QR code at registration that detailed instructions on two iWalk challenges: a trivia question and a challenge urging participants to take a picture at the event and email it back. This event gave the UJA website over 500 hits and about fifty people chose to subscribe to receive future UJA event notices, promoting their organization in a creative way.

–Take an active step: TSA at the St. Louis Airport uses QR codes to link people waiting in security lines to their website, download an app that will tell them approximately how long security lines are at different airports, and a page that gives the most up to date information as far as what can be brought through security checkpoints. Using QR codes in these ways, participants can actively connect to and engage with the organization or cause.

–Network: NTEN put a QR code on each attendee’s name badge at their 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference with a link to their personal profile and contact information. Attendees could network and get each other’s contact information by scanning each other’s QR codes. Organizations are using QR codes creatively to coincide with their organization’s strategy and goals. The key is creativity and pinpointing how to best utilize them in your organization.

Other examples include:

On your next event program, put a QR code that allows users to sign up for your future events.
Place a QR code at your event registration table that attendees scan to donate a specified amount to your organization.
During your next mailing campaign, add a QR code that has participants start following your organization on Twitter.

Jewish organizations can use QR codes to increase social media in their marketing and communication approaches, shift focus from printed material to online content, and specifically engage those primarily online generations. QR codes are gaining popularity in the social media world and will be on the scene for a while so start developing some fluency in the use of QR codes and begin to integrate use of them in your organization’s strategies. It's easy, cheap and a great opportunity to be (slightly) ahead of the curve! Try it out and see how your organization will reap the benefits.

Kate Belza is the Darim Online student intern for 2011-12. She is a third year at the University of Virginia, majoring in religious studies with a minor in leadership. She is an active student leader at UVa Hillel, and co-founded a Challah for Hunger chapter at UVa, where they bake and sell challah and donate the proceeds to charity. She also serves as the fundraising chair for Relay for Life at UVa, and is Director of Philanthropy for her sorority, Alpha Phi. Kate serves as a student representative to the UVa Hillel Board of Directors.

What Have We Learned This Week? This Year?

October 3, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

Guest post by Rabbi Arnie Samlan

When I joined Facebook, the first updates I began to post daily balanced my work and my play. They bounced between humorous (most often) and serious. Some reflected my rabbinic side; some addressed my musical (and scratch DJ) side; many dealt with pop music or pop culture. After a few months, I figured out that social media is not about listening to myself, it’s about bringing people together to share.

As I began to wind down my work week in preparation for Shabbat, my social media Friday began, a few months back, to take on a different form. I needed a wrap up of the social media week, just as Shabbat is the wrap up of my work week. Inspired by a radio “shock jock” who used to end each morning with a call-in segment called “What have we learned today?”, I decided to try asking this question on my Friday Facebook status. And so, every Friday morning, my status reads “It’s Friday! What have we learned this week?”

Several months in, our (no longer my) What Have We Learned This Week? community is thriving. Each week literally dozens of friends from around the world share their reflections. The recognition of learning that has taken place ranges from the odd (“I learned about the reproductive system of a hen”) to the seriously reflective (“we can spend time weighing our day, debating its worth, or we can recognize all of the good in our day and count it as worthy!”), to the personal (“To have a little more faith in myself than I might otherwise deem I deserve.”) to the proudly parental (“That my son is receiving a wonderful public school education from wonderfully committed teachers.”)

Beyond their individual reflections, the participants in this weekly ritual have begun to talk to each other, supporting (or challenging, such as the discussion on the difference between “fact” and “truth”) friends and sometimes strangers as we close our week together. My Friday Facebook wall has become a safe place for introspection, joking, kvetching, and praying. We judge our own learnings from social media and from the rest of our life and, without judging one another we get the opportunity to learn from each other’s weekly journeys. And in the end, it’s the sharing of one another’s journeys that is what life, as well as social media, is about.

Judaism has a practice in which a person conducts a cheshbon ha-nefesh, a self-audit of one’s soul. Some people engage in this practice daily, others less often. During the Rosh Hashana season, it’s particularly apropos, as we look back on the year past and at the year ahead. We assess ourselves honestly, and we set our course for the future. Why not invite my Facebook friends to share their own cheshbon hanefesh on my Facebook wall?

May we all continue to learn and share, and may be all be blessed wish a shana tova u’metukah, a happy and sweet New Year.

So… What you have you learned this year? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Arnie Samlan is a rabbi, Jewish educator, consultant, Jewish life coach, and aspiring DJ. Follow him on Twitter (@JewishConnectiv) and his blog The Notorious R.A.V. Arnie is part of the professional team of the New Center for Collaboration and Leadership of The Jewish Education Project.

#SM4NP Wrap-Up: Uncomfortable Transparency and Practical Optimism

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

This year’s Social Media for Nonprofits conference in New York wasn’t actually about social media.* It was about values and personality. Two ideas in particular stood out – uncomfortable transparency and practical optimism. Here’s how they came through…

Uncomfortable Transparency:

On charity:waters fourth birthday, the young nonprofit celebrated by live-streaming an ambitious new drilling projectand failed.

When Paull Young, charity:waters Director of Digital Engagement, told this story at the conference, it was with genuine disappointment, but also gratitude. Charity:waters followers and fans posted on Facebook comments like, We appreciate your transparency, and I think this is perhaps even more important than sharing your successes. Donations flooded in, and the next day charity:water got more hits on its website than ever before.

Young called this uncomfortable transparency. He urged us to be honest about our failures as well as our successes, and to fail fast and learn. Ultimately, he reminded us, people want to hear the truth. (Several months later, charity:water returned to the drill site, this time striking water.)

Practical Optimism:

Seeing Alexis Ohanian on stage showing a picture of a grinning kitten and declaring that this shot embodied his feelings about the Internet, the audience couldnt help but be charmed. We were surprised and delighted by his joyfulness.

Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, Hipmunk, BreadPig, and other do-gooder projects with goofy titles and terminally cute mascots, is a firm believer in the benevolent web. At the beginning of his presentation, he asked for a show of hands, How many of you believe that most people are fundamentally good? The vast majority of attendees smiled, lifting their hands high. If you believe that, then most of the people online are good, too He went on to talk about a Reddit community devoted exclusively to sending pizzas to one another, and a save-the-whales naming contest that resulted in both the cancellation of a whale-hunting expedition and a several ton sea creature being dubbed Mr. Splashypants.

Ohanians enthusiasm was contagious. I walked away from his presentation feeling like I did after seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World really believing in the eventual triumph of love over hate, of light over darkness, and knowing that I could be a part of that. His optimism wasnt blind hopefulness, either; it was authentic, even strategic. Essentially, he reminded me that you cant work in the nonprofit world without believing that things can be better, and that people want to be good, and do good. That fundamental assumption, that practical optimism, should be reflected in the way we work online.

There were many other outstanding presentations, and I encourage you to check out the hashtag (#sm4np) and Slideshare for some great resources.

*(Ok, you got me – #sm4np was about social media, too. The conference provided a solid overview of some important themes in effective social media use: listening, storytelling, branding, analysis and reflection; all kinds of good stuff. Farra Trompeter of Big Duck, who also spoke at the conference, wrote an excellent overview of the complete line-up of sessions, which you can see here. Gatherings like #sm4np provide excellent opportunities for getting introduced to new tools and concepts, as well as prime networking time. I highly encourage representatives from Jewish organizations to attend these events when possible, hear about what’s happening in social media and the nonprofit world, and share what they’ve learned!)

Do the concepts of “uncomfortable transparency” and “practical optimism” resonate with you? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Free Inspiraton for New York Area Congregations

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

Thanks to an ongoing collaboration between Darim Online and SYNERGY: UJA-Federation of New York and Synagogues Together, we’re pleased to bring you the next series in our Social Media Boot Camp for New York area synagogues. All staff and lay leaders from congregations in the UJA Federation of New York catchment area are invited to register for the series free of charge. Not in the area and interested in learning with us? Become a member of Darim Online! Last year’s series focused on the uses of specific social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter. This year, we’ll be focusing on the implications of these social media tools and their impact on society and business, with the goal of evolving your congregation for success in the networked age. Our 6 webinars will focus on strategy, staffing and leadership as they pertain to the mission, function and sustainability of synagogues. Join Lisa Colton, founder and president of Darim Online, and special guests, for a tour through Evolving the Synagogue as a Networked Nonprofit, inspired and informed by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine’s valuable book, The Networked Nonprofit. October 26, 2011 The Synagogue as a Networked Nonprofit Given shifts in society, culture and technology, successful organizations are evolving the ways they work to be more nimble, efficient and social. The synagogue’s origins are as a network — a group of people in a similar area who have similar observances, needs, values, and goals. Thus, today’s empowered culture is a great opportunity to realign the synagogue’s work with its origins, and to help the organization function more successfully in our networked age. Join us to learn about the principles outlined in Beth Kanter and Allison Fine’s book The Networked Nonprofit, and to explore case studies of organizations making this shift, from synagogues to local and national nonprofits. This webinar will set the stage for the next 5 in the series, and will inspire you to think differently about your work. November 17, 2011 The Skills and Mindset of a Success Community Weaver Every synagogue seeks to build community among its members and beyond. A rich and successful community leads to achieving all other aspects of a synagogue’s mission and goals, from education to tikkun olam, membership dues and event participation. One of the most important functions of leadership is to weave and support this community. Today, these responsibilities are often embedded in positions with titles like “Program Director” and “Membership Coordinator”. Join us to learn about the value of community weaving, the attributes of a successful community weaver, why both staff and board members need to be involved, and why your congregation needs to be in the business of weaving. Eager to learn more? Check out June Holly’s blog: http://www.networkweaving.com January 11, 2012 Staffing Beyond the Accidental Techie Oftentimes, congregations find someone on staff who’s good with technology, or at least likes to play around and can help out others. Sometimes this is an educator or preschool director, sometimes it’s the youngest person on staff, sometimes it’s the rabbi! This is what we call the “accidental techie”. They weren’t hired to do this, but have fallen into it. As your congregation is beginning to participate in social media, who has stepped up to lead the effort? Is that position really the one that should have this responsibility? Is that the best way for them to spend their time? And how is everyone on staff empowered to use today’s tools to do their work (like they do with email and the telephone)? Join us to discuss staffing needs, how to evolve to the right place, and how everyone should have at least some role. February 9, 2012 Social Giving How and why is the rise of social media affecting philanthropic giving? While the fundamentals of development haven’t changed significantly, the ways you go about storytelling, generating enthusiasm and motivating donors has been turned upside down in the last few years. Accordingly, as a networked nonprofit your approach to marketing a fundraising campaign needs to evolve as well. Join us to learn about the tools, strategies, and opportunities of social media based fundraising, and learn from interesting case studies in the field. March 14, 2012 Social Media for Jewish Learning: The Social Sermon Let’s consider 2 common functions of a synagogue: Jewish learning, and Shabbat services. In both cases, the dynamic is based on a hierarchical model, rather than a networked one: A teacher at the front of the class, and the rabbi talking to the congregation from behind a podium. Let’s consider how social media tools can help us evolve these dynamics to create conversation, support collaboration, and engage more voices in our community. Join us to learn about The Social Sermon and explore how rabbis and educators can put blogs, Facebook and Twitter to use in some creative ways to discuss the weekly Torah portion and build relationships, participation and engagement in your congregation online and in person. May 17, 2012 Return on Engagement: How to Measure the Impact of Your Socializing ROI ROI ROI. We’re always hearing about the return on investment of time, energy and dollars. How do you measure what something is worth? Reflecting back on our previous 5 topics, we’ll look at how to measure engagement, why it’s essential for your success, and how focusing on it can be the key for evolving your synagogue to thrive in the networked age. Interested in learning more about how Jewish organizations can function as networked nonprofits? Join the conversation in our online book group!

Educators as Accidental Techies

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

Several years ago during a conversation with Harlene Appelman of The Covenant Foundation, I learned an important term: The Positive Deviant. Harlene uses this term (and now so do I) to describe those people who are doing things in new and different ways, perhaps disrupting systems and organizations from the inside out in good, productive, and important ways. They are the people who are worthy of cheerleading and supporting because they are making change on the ground, and their work will — in time — impact many people. In the field of nonprofit technology, we have another term for these sorts of folks: The Accidental Techie. As defined by Webster’s Online Dictionary:

In the field of nonprofit technology, an accidental techie is an individual who has gravitated toward responsibility for an organization’s information technology infrastructure, even though his or her professional training or job description did not include tasks of this kind.

In other words, someone’s filling the void, charting new territory, and becoming a resource for others in their organization. More often than not, we find the accidental techies in synagogues are the educators. Today in the last of our 6 part webinar series for NATE and JEA educators, we explored why this is often the case (they love learning curves, rather than being intimidated by them; they are willing to try new things and refresh their approach often; the "new rules of the game" walk in their door every year; and they know technology alone isn’t a silver bullet — the SMARTboard doesn’t educate the student, the teacher does), what their colleagues and organizations actually need, and how it feels to occupy this role. As social media and other technologies are influencing individuals, society, and business, organizations must evolve the way they conduct their work and communicate with their constituents. Enter technology. From data management to communications to customer service. While few will argue about the importance of these tools, most organizations have not actually made the structural changes to support their use. One important shift is staffing. Who has these responsibilities written into their job description? Who is in charge of listening and engaging community members? When do you need to move from the occasional IT consultant to someone who has expertise in-house? In today’s webinar, educators shared the roles they are playing — from IT support to providing in-house trainings, from being the communications "nag" to the "technology advocate". In some cases participants felt they are swimming upstream in a culture that does not yet recognize the importance or need of these tools and applications, nor recognizes the asset they have in a tech-savvy educator. In other cases, participants felt that their congregation is in fact very appreciative of the expertise they bring, and are so eager to take advantage of it that they don’t have enough time to do their "real" job. This is a moment of important evolution. If you are an accidental technie or positive deviant, please know you’re not alone. It’s so valuable to hear each others stories, to know what’s working well and where you could use some creative ideas and support from your peers. How are you problem solving, balancing your various responsibilities, gaining respect and appreciation for this additional role you are playing, and ultimately advancing and maturing your organization? I invite the NATE and JEA participants — and everyone else — to use the comments on this post as a space for sharing, listening, asking and supporting. Interested in learning more about accidental techies? Judi Sohn, from the Colorectal Cancer Coalition, writing on the NTEN blog Robert Weiner, nonprofit technology consultant, writing on the NTEN blog

Tune Up Your Facebook Page For The High Holiday Season

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

The High Holidays are just around the corner. How will you use Facebook as an entry point for prospective members seeking to engage in the holiday season, and as a point of connection for current members? How can your Facebook Page be educational, and help your community prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to make the most of these powerful experiences? Darim is pleased to offer a webinar and webinar/consulting combo to help you tune up your Facebook Page for maximum impact this season. REGISTER HERE or use the form below. WEBINAR: Friday, August 12th 1-2pm Eastern In this one-hour webinar, we’ll walk you through how to use Facebook to engage constituents during this important time of year when you have more of their attention, including marketing your page, when to post, what types of updates are most successful, how to develop a content strategy for the holiday season, how to be personal with Facebook, and more. The webinar recording will be available to all who register to replay or revisit at your convenience. CONSULTING PACKAGE: To provide more support and customized attention, we’re offering one-on-one coaching for up to 8 congregations who want to review their current Facebook activities and strategy in more detail with a Darim consultant. Along with this one hour coaching sessions, you’ll receive a self-evaluation form that will help us identify your organization’s Facebook goals and current challenges using Facebook and a written follow up including tips and suggestions to help propel you forward. Price includes the webinar for up to 5 representatives from your congregation. Webinar: Only $20 Webinar coaching and support: $150 (only 8 seats available!) REGISTER FOR EITHER PACKAGE HERE. Or see the form below. A great kick in the tush to get your Facebook house in order for the busy season! What are you waiting for? Sign up for the webinar, or the full package with coaching and customized support! Our Presenter: Debra Askanase is founder of the social media strategy firm communityorganizer20.com. Debra blogs there about social media, nonprofits and community organizing. A frequent conference speaker, Debra can be found chatting away as @askdebra. Debra has worked with nonprofits for 20 years as organizer, program director, executive director and fundraiser. Debra has worked with many Jewish organizations, synagogues, day schools and other organizations in the US, Canada and Israel.

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And the Recipients Are… Announcing Our New Cohort of Educators!

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

We are thrilled to announce our first cohort for the Darim Social Media Boot Camp for Educators, chosen from among over 50 applicants. Included among them are national educational organizations, congregations, and a day school. We were excited to receive over 50 applications for this cohort, and it was very difficult to make these decisions! We weighed organizational readiness, innovation in institutional design and/or project design, team formation and creativity in thinking and culture, among other attributes. We appreciate all of the work put into the process, and we look forward to continuing conversations with all applicants in one way or another. And now, announcing the 2011-12 cohort! Drumroll please… Centropa Support the work of Centropa’s United States education department and its educators through the use of social media, including curricular resources and professional development. Team Leader: Lauren Granite, US Education Director Congregation B’nai Amoona, St. Louis Create a mission driven vision that takes advantage of social media and other 21^st century technology tools to create strong and meaningful connections with a focus on integrating family education, adult education, and experiential education. Team Leader: Jennifer Newfeld, Director of Congregational Learning IKAR, Los Angeles Create family-based learning activities and interacting with Jewish ideas and values through home-based Judaism that complements students’ face to face learning. Team Leader: Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal, Director of Education Jewish Enrichment Center, Chicago Develop a strategic “networked nonprofit” model of leadership that includes school professionals, parents, and volunteers. Team Leader: Rebecca Milder, Director Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston Investigate new meanings of community and develop a Shabbat chavurah to support reconnection of the family and expand the ways members connect and communicate Shabbat experiences. Team Leader: Terri Ginsberg Bernsohn, Religious School Director Matan Develop online professional development events for Matan’s Jewish education institutes and support associated communities of learning for leaders and future leaders in Jewish special needs inclusion. Team Leader: Meredith Polsky, Special Education Coordinator Temple Beth Abraham, Tarrytown, NY Create multiple points of community building and engagement for current and potential congregational members with support from social media and personal learning networks. Team Leader: Pamela Barkley, Director of Education Temple Judea, Coral Gables, FL Strengthen communication and engagement with parents and families in a strategic way to build and augment the synagogue’s educational community. Team Leader: Beth Young, Director of Education The Weber School, Atlanta Use social media to provide students with opportunities to develop social and academic relationships with Israeli teenagers with whom they will be visiting during a 5 week Israel component in the middle of the school year. Team Leader: Rachel Schwartz, Teacher, History and Judaics Departments University of Washington, Stroum Jewish Studies Program, Seattle Develop a localized, interactive, and immersive digital ecosystem for Jewish studies students, beginning at the University of Washington and eventually expanding to other universities. Team Leader: Professor Noam Pianko These teams exhibited exceptional enthusiasm, readiness, and vision and we look forward to working with them this year! We’re thankful to the Covenant Foundation for supporting our work with this cohort. In addition, as part of this funding, Darim will be presenting a series of webinars over the coming year with a focus on innovation and social media in Jewish education, including guest experts such as David Bryfman. All Darim Online members are welcome to join these webinars. Not a member yet? Sign up here. Finally, Darim is running a six part webinar series for congregational educators this summer, starting July 5, in conjunction with NATE and JEA. Learn more and sign up here: NATE members click here and JEA members click here

The Discomfort of Learning

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

My 7 year old son has been learning how to ride a 2 wheel bike. Over the past several weeks his attitude has shifted from excitement to intimidation to frustration to despondence and back again. He got in a bad mood when we suggested practicing, blamed the bike for malfunctioning, and claimed a slightly skinned knee prevented him from any further effort. At one point he screamed, “I quit!”, which prompted our older neighbor (rocking on her porch swing) to call out, “No, Eli, never give up! You’ll get it!”.

Of course, he learned how to ride a bike. There was a breakthrough moment when he felt the balance, and another when he realized dad had let go for over 10 feet without telling him. But getting there was not easy, simple, or predictable. Building the skills he needed did not happen in a linear progression, and he did not get any positive feedback on his progress for 85% of the learning curve. Ultimately, he learned how to feel his body and feel the bike, and let go of trying to over-think the endeavor. Now he’s tearing down dirt paths.

It’s not so different learning to be a networked, social media savvy nonprofit. Sometimes you try and try and nothing happens. Sometimes you skin your knees a bit, or get frustrated with the equipment, or feel like you don’t even want to practice anymore. In the Avi Chai Academy, the Jewish Day Schools have just completed a 3 week match campaign through Facebook Causes. Everyone struggled, everyone learned. Some had their breakthrough moment, and others did not. So they’ll keep practicing and soon they’ll find their balance just like Eli eventually did on his bike. And when they do, they’ll recognize all sorts of other possibilities now available to them, like mountain biking, and renting bikes on vacation, and entering a triathlon with a friend.

Learning new things is not comfortable. We’ve all had plenty of practice studying for tests or memorizing facts, but not all learning happens in this bookish-academic-structured way. Sometimes learning is more fluid — it’s about developing instincts, or rewriting the rules of engagement or the patterns of working that we’re used to. Social media is not a memorizing-the-facts sort of learning. It’s more like the feeling the balance of the bike and understanding your center of gravity and the power of shifting your weight sort of learning.

And as my son can tell you, you can expect to crash and burn at least a hundred times before you have your first ah-ha moment. And that ah-ha moment is just the beginning, it’s not the end. It’s just that little burst of confidence that you need to persevere to the next stage of learning.

More important than actually learning how to ride a bike was a life lesson Eli learned about perseverance. Now he knows that he will face challenges and resistance from time to time in life. He will feel frustration, and it will occur to him that he should just give up. But now he also knows that if he just keeps at it, the breakthrough moment will eventually come. Today he asked me if it’s hard to learn how to ride a unicycle. Oh boy.

Eli’s first solo ride down the block:

Linkedin for Nonprofits

September 7, 2011 by

Lisa Colton Leave a comment

Guest post by Debra Askanase, Community Organizer 2.0

I had the privilege of presenting a webinar to the Darim Online community June 1, 2011 about how to use Linkedin for nonprofits. When I was preparing for the webinar, two things struck me: why cause-focused groups may not work well on Linked (more on that below), and how much Linkedin offers. The presentation focuses on five ways to best utilize Linkedin professionally: be goal-oriented, optimize both your personal and company profiles, utilize groups, and use Linkedin Answers.

If I had to offer three tips about using Linkedin effectively, they would be:

Think about why you and your company want to be one Linkedin, and how you use it will follow
Identify a combination of 10 keywords and keyword phrases that best describe you, and 10 others that best describe the organization. Integrate these keywords and keyword phrases into your personal and company profiles
Complete all employee personal Linkedin profiles to 100%, as well as the organizational profile

Start with your Goals

The key to using any social media platform effectively is to use it to meet your goals. Decide first why you (or your organization) would want to use Linkedin (such as finding collaborators, funders, or colleagues). Once you know why you want to use Linkedin, how you will use Linkedin follows. For example, if you want to use Linkedin to connect with foundations then you might:

search for people who work at those foundations
join groups that they have joined and participate
ask for introductions through mutual Linkedin connections
use Linkedin Answers to ask a question about contacting foundations

Identifying your goals will dictate your Linkedin strategy.

Optimize your personal profile

One aspect of optimizing your profile is completing it fully. Be sure to include your photo, a summary of who you are, keywords and interests, and a summary of what youve accomplished in every position. Its also important to have at least five recommendations, since you can search Linkedin by number of recommendations.

Use the advanced search option to understand how you can be found, and include those in your profile. Some of the search parameters are by industry, geographic location, number of recommendations, and position titles.

Optimizing your profile also means placing important phrases and keywords within your profile. Think about 10 to 15 keywords and keyword phrases that describe you professionally. Specifically, place keyword-rich content within the summary, specialties, and interests sections.

Optimize the company profile

If your organization doesnt have a company profile, create one on Linkedin. Identify the 10-15 keywords that best describe your organization, and integrate them into the company profile for the profile to be search-ready. If your organization has a blog or Twitter presence, be sure to add those to the company profile to personalize the company. Also, if you want to highlight specific products or services, do so through the new products and services feature.

Utilize the power of groups

Real connecting happens within groups. Search for groups related to your profession and industry. I also recommend joining groups your professional colleagues belong to as well. If a group is inactive or not valuable, leave. If it is, spend time within the group answering questions and offering help. When you find yourself in an interesting discussion, invite your colleagues to connect with you personally on Linkedin after the discussion has concluded. I tend to see the same group of people commenting on group discussions, which helps me to know them through our participation.

When groups are managed by nonprofits, and the discussion is about the nonprofit or a specific cause, they tend to be inactive. I looked at many public nonprofit-administered groups while researching this presentation, and most were very inactive or not lively. (I cannot comment on private groups, though.) I suspect that cause-specific or nonprofit-specific groups arent very active because Linkedin users want to discuss professional issues, not organizational mission. I also think that mission-based discussion has limited appeal while industry-based discussion has much broader appeal and basis for discussion. Additionally, Linkedin is not best used as a platform for recruiting people to become direct stakeholders; there are other platforms much better suited to cause-focused discussions.

There appears to be two exceptions to the inactive nonprofit-administered groups rule: One is Autism Speaks, which has a very lively Linkedin group, though Im not able to comment on why this is the case. The other exception seems to be professional associations. For example, the alumni group of the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust (a youth business mentoring program) is a very active group for business class alums to connect with others and possibly do business together.

Linkedin Answers

Linkedin Answers is both a wonderful research tool and means to find new connections. By subscribing the the RSS feed of a certain category of questions (such as Social Entrepreneurship) you can stay up to date on the latest industry discussions, and also answer questions yourself. If your answer is selected as the best answer, you win the best answer designation, which enhances your professional credibility. Also, questions reach the entire Linkedin community, not just your personal connections.

Other Linkedin goodies

I love looking at whats going on in the Linkedin labs. Most recently, Ive enjoyed Linkedin Maps (visualize your own network) and Signal (trending news stories shared by your connections) from the labs. Check back each month for new labs products.

Resources

Joanne Fritz of nonprofit.about.com published a great article with many tips for nonprofit professionals using Linkedin. Fast Company also published an article with five Linkedin tips you didnt know. Read the excellent Net2 Think Tank discussion about using Linkedin for change. Allison Fine interviews Amy Sample Ward and Estrella Rosenberg on how nonprofits can use Linkedin on the December Social Good podcast. Drop in on the informative weekly Linkedin Twitter chat at 8pm every Tuesday, hosted by @LinkedinExpert and @MartineHunter.

If youd like to watch the recorded webinar that I presented with Darim Online, you may view it here.

Getting the Most out of Linkedin for Nonprofits

View more presentations from Debra Askanase

What is your Linkedin tip? What is the most useful thing about using Linkedin that youve found?